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Kiranese
Back to Cultures *Government: The Tollinr Empire was a government led by a extremely powerful emperor who ruled with the support of the Military Congress. The Military Congress was a collection of military commanders who owed their power to the fifteen Heralds of the Tollinr army. Each Herald was made up of roughly two and a half thousand men and once every five years, they would vote on appointing the fifteen military congressionals who would represent them before the emperor. Every Herald would have anywhere between ten to twenty commanders, operating under a supreme commander who was ineligible for a position as a military congressional. These military commanders could choose to run for the position of their Herald's representative in the Congress and doing so would result in them forsaking their military career as a commander, given the honour and power of the position few refused to run for the position. The purpose of the Military Congress was to keep the current emperor from gaining too much power and to have a strong force with no actual military strength behind it to keep him in check. The emperor had the power to whatever he wished, but anything the congress deemed wrong or disagreed with could be vetoed and without this support the emperor could not enforce any of his rulings. The military congressional could not undernormal conditions create or enact any rulings on their own, this could only be changed if a current law was unanimously accepted as wrong by all fifteeen of the congressionals. This system may have flaws, but given the empires strong militaristic and tradition obsessed beliefs, giving the military so much power was not entirely outlandish. Should corruption appear a Herald could easily remove a congressional from power and given the Herald's loyalty being traditionally to the supreme commander of a Herald, rather than their elected congressional a congressional would have little hope of even launching a coup or rebellion. The Empire was also devided into provinces, each led by a governor who was apointed by the emperor, with congress aproval, they had very little power outside of their provinces however. *Caste or Class: but In Tollinr society the primary and most privileged society was the emperor and his immediate family and his chosen favourites. After this group, the military congressionals were the second most privileged class, with many owning private villas where their families would live. The supreme commanders and the lesser commanders of the fifteen Heralds were often just as privileged as the fifteen congressionals and the commanders were more often than not related in some way to a current or previous congressional, giving them considerable privilege. Most commanders grew up in the villas of their congressional relatives, whether they were alive or dead, this resulted in multiple families becoming very powerful. Many of the provincial governors were also drawn from these families. The fourth class of society were the soldiers of the fifteen Heralds and the soldiers of the Imperial army. The soldiers of the Imperial army were any soldiers left over that were not needed to fill the ranks of the fifteen Heralds; they were often far more numerous than the Heralds, but lacked any real political power, their commanders were drawn from the most skilled of the common folk. A soldier and his immediate family could expect decent pay so long as he was actively in service and when he or she lost their ability to continue service (anyone over the age of fifty five, or anyone maimed or diseased) they would receive weekly payments for the remainder of their lives. After these classes were the common folk they made up the remainder of society and were approximately 60-70% of the empire's population. These people served as farmers, traders, labourers and everything else society needed to function. *Slavery: Slavery was illegal in the empire during its entire existence, regardless of ethnicity or religion. *Languages: New Tolliran was the most spoken language in the empire and no other language was openly spoken in any of the provinces. This was because of the empires policy of outlawing the speaking of other languages, a successful attempt at stamping out native dialects. *Education and Writing: Education was limited to the upper classes of society, soldiers could afford to educate their children and allow them to be literate, but it was more or less a useless skill to them as their parents often expected them to be soldiers. Common folk could not afford to educate their children and barely any were literate; instead most trained their children to take up the families trade. *Narcotics & Crime: Crime was fairly common within the Empire, despite its harsh punishments. A pickpocket would normaly face life in prison and many of the great stone prisons still loom over the sea on the Tollinr Islands. A small section of the Imperial army was made up of conscripts from amongst criminals, however this unit was never any more than five hundred men and they were only ever equipted with staves and shields, it was largely a death sentence. Gloleaf was quite a common drug amongst the social elite, as was Porpo powder; both of which no longer exist as both the Gloleaf and Porpo plants were harvested to extinction over a hundred years ago. Ralroot powder was incredibly common amongst the common folk due to its easy growing conditions (anywhere dark and cold) and massive production in the cities of the empire. *Currency: ion. The Tollinr Yome was the only currency legally accepted within the Empire, any other currency being accepted would result in heavy fines.The Yome was made out of copper and was heavily minted by the Empire, this led to its eventual economic collapse and then the final stroke, a civil war. *Food: *Alcohal: *Warfare: The Tollinr Empires military was it's pride and joy. At its peak it numbered nearly thirty five to forty thousand men and women. Divided into sixteen groups there was the fifteen Heralds and the Imperial Army. The fifteen Heralds contained twenty five hundred men, all of which were pulled from the Imperial Army, a disorganized mess of soldiers led by and made up of common folk. The commanders of the fifteen Herald's were almost exclusively drawn from amidst the high ranking families of the empire. The emperor never served as a military commander and during the empires entire existence command of the armies was given to the high ranking families of the empire and in part the Military Congressionals. *Armor & Weapons: Iron cuirasses were the most common armour used by the fifteen Heralds, in the Imperial army the primary armour was studded leather with a chain skirt. Weaponry was heavily regulated and certain divisions within each Herald were given specific weapons, with which they were trained and expected to be experts with in battle. The primary weapons used were short swords, pikes and bill hooks, often carried with a small metal buckler used to deflect melee attacks, against arrows it was largely useless. To counter arrows certain units were equipped with large heavy wooden shields that would disable their carriers from taking part in any combat, but each one could take ten to twenty arrows before needing to be discarded and replaced. Ranged weaponry was restricted to javelins and slings, which proved to be far more cost effective than the bow and arrow or the crossbow. *Clothing: The citizens of the empire often war cloth or wool clothing, leather was exclusive to military purposes. Men tended to wear heavy cloth or woolen tunics, with heavy cloth jackets in winter month, a wool cap was often worn in winter months. Women tended towards wearing light cloth dresses in summer months and wool or heavier cloth in the winter. Children universaly wore cloth clothing all year round with woolen vests or jackets in the winter over top. The Emperor and the social elite wore cloth all year round and often dyed it a variety of colours with dyes imported from the south. *Hair: Men tended to wear their hair short or if long, tied back into a single short braid. Women's hairstyles changed yearly with braids being in style one year and long free flowing hair the next, it was largely influenced by who the Empires allies were at the time; when braids were in style relations with the people of Othicara were thriving and when the free flowing hair of the Folkr was in style they were some of the empires most valued trade partners. Male children typicaly have their head shaven for simplicities sake, wheras female children often follow the hairstyles of their mothers. Blonde and black hair were the most common hair colours amongst the Tollinrians, brunettes were also quite a large group, but the other two were still a majority. Red hair was considered by many to be a sign of dishonesty or trickery. *Gender & Sexuality: Men and women were treated equal in some regards and terribly one sided in others. Men were un arguably the dominant sex in society. Women could not become emperor, hold a military command position and as such become a Military Congressional, furthermore women could not own property or if married commit adultery. They could however, serve as a soldier in both the fifteen Heralds and or the Imperial Army; women could choose who they married, a practice followed in few other places and women could also choose to divorce her husband. Sexuality was fairly different in regards to other places neighbouring the empire.Homosexuality was fairly common, it was still frowned upon however, but it was not outright illegal and many legendary men were openly homosexual. Bisexuality was entirely frowned upon however and it was often seen as a sign of a person being corrupted by demons, many bisexuals were imprisoned for it and even more were made into social pharai as proof was difficult to obtain. *Architecture: Architecture in the Tollinr empire was fairly strange in that most of the buildings varied from city to city; the regional differences often resulted in the resources being used varying drastically. In the north stone was far more common than lumber and in the south mud brick and timber were incredibly common. Some standard distinctions always present were the presence of a tall narrow chimney and the lack of doors. The tall chimneys were initially created in the north and served to allow smoke to escape houses covered in snow, the design sooned turned into an aesthetic quality and spread south. The lack of doors was largely caused by the military use of lumber for warfare and in their replacement leather hides were often hung in doorways to keep wind out, in winter and at night these hides could be fastened to the floor and walls to serve as a temporary wall.